Amaradeva and his flight of the Selalihiniya

Pandit W D Amaradeva is busy these days getting ready for Amara Sara, a recital of vocal and instrumental music which he hopes to present to music lovers at the beginning of April. He is also working with Singlanka to put out a new CD to coincide with his performance.

He calls the concert "a representation of the different periods of music." In addition to the vocals sung by him with some of his students joining the chorus, he will present three purely instrumental compositions on the violin. He is particularly excited about an orchestral composition on 'the flight of the selalihiniya' based on two verses in Totagamuve Sri Rahula Thero's Selalihini Sandesaya.

Pandit Amaradeva seems to have got a fresh lease of life following recent events which were an endorsement of the maestro's "extraordinary inborn talent, a capacity for selfless effort, intense commitment, and charming humility", as stated by Prof. K N O Dharmadasa in presenting him for the conferment of the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D Litt) at the recent Convocation of the Peradeniya University. Earlier, the Kelaniya University had conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy - Fine Arts (1991) and the University of Ruhuna, the D Litt (1993). When the Bhatkande Institute of Music conferred the title 'Pandit' for his outstanding contribution towards the development of creative music in Sri Lanka, he became the first Sri Lankan to achieve that honour.

Khemadasa off to Vienna

On an invitation from Ambassador Poolokasingham in Austria, maestro Premasiri Khemadasa leaves for Vienna on February 1 to present a special concert to mark Sri Lanka's Independence Day. He calls it 'Tribute to my motherland' and is looking forward to directing a Viennese orchestra (as he did in Prague last year) for the occasion.

He will be presenting the development of Sinhala music through the ages using folk melodies and other relevant items. It should be another interesting experiment from the maestro, who has made a name for himself for original thinking and innovation.

Songstress Malinee Bulathsinghala and a few students from Kemadasa's school of music will accompany the maestro.

It will be a rare treat for Sri Lankans in Vienna (there are quite a few working in the UN agencies as well as outside) and others who will get a chance of tasting something special from one of Sri Lanka's leading composers.

Ambassador Poolokasingham was personally there at the premiere of the Prague Summer Festival to witness the enthusiastic response Khemadasa received for his compositions played by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Mahagama Sekara remembered

Poet, lyric writer, artist Mahagama Sekara died 22 years ago but there is much discussion and appreciation of his work to this day.

An extremely interesting and lively discussion on ITN marked his death anniversary January 14 this year. Tissa Abeysekera acting as presenter got the best out of two lyric writers - veteran Dharmasiri Gamage and relative newcomer Ratna Sri Wijesinghe in assessing Sekara's contribution to Sinhala literature.

Also participating in the discussion was maestro Amaradeva who worked closely with Sekara in turning out some of the most beautiful musical compositions both on cinema and radio. Being at hand to sing and illustrate Sekara's works, Amaradeva added a lot of colour to the programme.

Gunadasa Amarasekera's rather unkind remarks on Sekara in his book, Sinhala Kavya Vicharaya evoked discussion and there was general agreement that Sekara was easily one of the greatest poets in modern times. Although Sekara is best known for his lyrics, the fact that he has produced seven poetry books was ample proof of his talents as a poet, it was pointed out. Just as much as Dr Sarachchandra proved his creative ability through drama, Sekara was appreciated mainly through his creations over radio (Madhuvanti broke new ground among radio programmes), film and other songs.

More Plus * He believed in the old and the new

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